About the show
Barry Lubin
If Barry is very familiar to the Big Apple Circus’s audiences, it is as a man wearing a red dress and curly gray hair, better known as Grandma. A graduate of Clown College (class of ’74), Barry/Grandma has graced the Big Apple Circus with his delightful antics since 1982, and most recently starred in last season’s production, Bello Is Back! Before joining the Big Apple Circus Barry spent five years with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Clown Alley (1974–79) during which time he created his lovable alter ego Grandma. In 2002, Barry was inducted into the International Clown Hall of Fame. An artist of many talents Barry served as writer/consultant for CBS’s “Circus of the Stars” and directed comedy segments for MTV, Snappy Dance Theater in Boston and a Trained Pig Act in Branson, Mo. He has served as a creative consultant on NBC’s “Cheers” and on 20th Century Fox’s “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”, and starred in two TV pilots for Nickelodeon (for which he also served as Executive Producer, Creator, and Writer with Yvette Kaplan). Barry conceived, starred in, and co-wrote the 2005-2006 Big Apple Circus production, Grandma Goes to Hollywood, directed comedy segments for several recent BAC productions including “Lead a Band” with Bello Nock in Bello & Friends; Carlos Svenson’s “Haute École,” a comedy horse act in Dreams of a City; and the comedic hand–to–hand balancing act in Carnevale! starring Virgile Peyramaure and Andrey Mantchev. Barry's travels have taken him around the world; to Saipan in the South Pacific to direct a new theatrical clown show, to Taiwan, Germany and Austria, to debut his new solo show and across Europe and Russia, where he has introduced "Grandma" to a host of adoring fans.